Of all the 2015 TedxUCLA talks, the one I felt our DCA students would benefit from the most was Adi Jaffe’s talk, “Rebranding our Shame.” Jaffe shares intimate details of his less-than-savory previous life, a life that could have left him branded many negative words forever (I won’t spoil his powerful storytelling by sharing what some of those are).

Many of our DCA graduates go on to help clients take a fresh look at their branding and create new identity systems. I’ve personally felt my preexisting notions about, for example, a “cheap but cheerful” LA restaurant transform as I’ve perused a new logo, storefront, menu, and takeout packaging created by one of our students. The design communications arts can be an extremely powerful tool for shaping how we feel about almost anything, including other people.

This year’s celebration of big ideas is almost here! TEDxUCLA takes place next Saturday, May 30th at Carnesale Commons. This year’s event is shaping up to have an amazing slate of talks filled with “ideas worth spreading.”

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Last week, the AIGA student group visited the El Segundo Museum of Art (ESMoA) for an incredible behind-the-scenes tour of Scratch, the museum’s latest “experience.”

The gallery featured floor-to-ceiling paintings by LA’s most prominent street artists as well as a selection of rare books from the Getty Research Institute. We learned that the exhibit was inspired by the LA Liber Amicorum, or LA Book of Friends (also known as the “Getty Black Book”), a collective sketchbook that emulates the street artist tradition of carrying black books to be inscribed by fellow artists. The name “liber amicorum,” and the manuscripts on display, referenced a very similar tradition among 16th- and 17th-century European merchants, who also carried books to be inscribed by friends—an amazing historical parallel!

The artwork in the exhibit itself was created in the same spirit of friendship, uniting artists from different cultural backgrounds and all corners of Los Angeles. The backstories for each piece—shared with us by ESMoA education specialist Chelsea Hogan—were both inspiring and fascinating. We also had the opportunity to make our own “scratch” marks on the lobby wall.

To conclude our tour, we went upstairs above the gallery—normally closed to the public—to visit the beautiful artist-in-residence studio and rooftop deck.

Thanks so much to everyone who was able to make it to ESMoA! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay updated on future events.